Chinese MMO will check your gender for you

Chinese MMO King of the World has introduced a new Gender Identity System in a bid to stop male players playing as female characters, or vice versa. According to MMOsite, the game will use a webcam to check your ugly face to see if you’re a guy or girl.

Guys playing as girls is hardly unheard of in the world of MMOs, and now it seems King of the World wants to stamp this deceit out, before any more people end up spending nine months of their life chatting to a stunning Wood Elf and agreeing to meet up in real-life only to discover they’ve been wooed and promised the world by a hairy trucker from Lincoln called Bruce. Not that I’d know anything about that.

The game’s operator, Aurora Technology, argues that using real gender will cause female players to feel more respected. An admirable aim, but the flexibility and escapism offered by MMOs is, in my opinion, a core part of their appeal. What say you, reader?